Impressions of the outback in the late 19th century don't come better than this.

ACROSS THE WARREGO
(Jim Grahame)

I dreamt some dreams of dried up streams
Streams that never flow
Of men and things misfortune brings
Across the Warrego

And I could see old faces there
Old faces grim and sad
Old mates of mine that tramped with me
And some are tramping yet

And I dreamt then of other men
All trudging to and fro
With empty bags and cruel swags
Across the Warrego

And most of them looked straight ahead
A few were looking back
The bush had claimed their souls and left
Their bodies on the track

And in my sleep I saw the sheep
Heard them bleating low
The ringing flocks, the stringing flocks
Across the Warrego

The young and strong were in the lead
The old and weak behind
With lagging feet and dragging feet
And some of them were blind

And in my dreams I saw the teams
The teams I used to know
The long long teams, the strong strong teams
Across the Warrego

And lurching wool bales strained the ropes
That lashed them fore and aft
And every ounce of horse flesh pulled
From leader to the shaft

I dreamt of nights by campfire lights
The flicker and the glow
The great white moon, the black gin’s croon
Beyond the Warrego

And I could hear the bullock bells
A-ringing on the plains
And thirsty kangaroos loped in
And bounded out again

And in the scrub I saw a pub
A name I do not know
But it was there to cash the cheques
Across the Warrego

A graveyard stood right out in front
Two pepper trees were near
The goats were camping underneath
A skillion at the rear

And in my dreams a camel team
Was winding in and out
Its swaying packs and blistered backs
The messengers of drought

And as they crossed the sandy ridge
The sun went down below
I saw them on the skyline then
Beyond the Warrego

And in the night I woke in fright
My pulse was far from slow
I thought that I was on the road
Beyond the Warrego

I thought a mirage danced ahead
A dry plain at my back
And I was trudging trudging on
Alone along the track

Youtube clip

In 1890, Lawson went to work in Brisbane for 'The Boomerang'. When that collapsed in the depression of 1890-91, he decided to go up country in search of work. With a mate, Jim Grahame, he swagged it to Bourke and out to Hungerford. They worked as house painters and around the sheds as pickers-up, pressers or scourers when shearing was on. Although it was not a long trip, Lawson drew extensive copy from it. Jim Grahame (spelled with and without an 'e'), whose real name was James Gordon, came from Creswick in Victoria and is said to have been born 'under the flap of a tilted cart'. He had intended to become a jockey, with the help of
Adam Lindsay Gordon, but went jackarooing instead. The outback certainly made a deep impression on him.

Grahame on Lawson

--Stewie.